Scott Long
11/8/20
The Pittsburgh Steelers escaped with a 24-19 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, in this week 9 matchup in Dallas to stay undefeated and continue their best start in franchise history at 8-0. Ben Roethlisberger found Eric Ebron on an eight-yard touchdown pass for the game winning score, but like the rest of the game nothing was easy for Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh entered the game favored to win by two touchdowns despite being on the road, in part due to their league leading 7-0 record, and in part due to the Cowboys quarterback situation, with Garrett Gilbert making his first career start for Dallas. Despite the odds, the Cowboys came out hungry forcing a punt on the Steelers opening drive and followed it up with a Greg Zuerlein field goal and an eight-play, 65 yard drive capped off by a 20-yard touchdown pass from Gilbert to Ceedee Lamb several drives later to make it 10-0.
After forcing another three and out, Dallas opened up their playbook with a trick play, as Cedrick Wilson lateraled to D.J. Thompson for a return that caught the Steelers off guard, and brought Dallas all the way to the Steelers 21 yard line. Despite not being able to capitalize with a touchdown, Dallas still was able to kick a field goal, to make it 13-0 with only 3:50 remaining in the half.
Pittsburgh responded with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger, making the score 13-6 after a failed extra point from Chris Boswell. However, the bigger issue on this drive came when Roethlisberger injured his knee yet finished the drive off. Roethlisberger was clearly shaken up after the injury and proceeded to head straight to the locker room immediately after the drive.
Several plays later, Minkah Fitzpatrick recovered a fumble giving the Steelers another shot to score late in the first half. However, concern stayed with Pittsburgh, as Roethlisberger had just gone to the locker room, forcing backup Mason Rudolph to take several snaps at quarterback, but this would be the last action he took, with Roethlisberger being cleared to return during halftime. While Pittsburgh struggled to move the ball on this drive, Boswell hit a franchise record 59-yard field goal to end the half at 13-9.
Dallas tacked on two field goals in the early portion of the third quarter to extend their lead to 19-9, with 6:26 remaining in the third quarter. This is where the momentum of the game shifted, as Pittsburgh orchestrated a six-play, 75-yard drive ending with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to Juju Smith-Schuster. But, Dallas was able to block the extra point, keeping the game at 19-15.
Shortly thereafter, Fitzpatrick ended Gilbert’s chances of answering back, intercepting him in the end zone with 11:54 remaining in the final quarter of play. Pittsburgh drove down the field 75 yards on 11 plays and Boswell kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 19-18 with 7:11 remaining.
After forcing a punt, Roethlisberger orchestrated the game winning drive, going 79 yards in six plays, spreading the ball around, and finding his tight end Eric Ebron for the game-winning eight-yard touchdown, bringing the score to 24-19.
Dallas fell to 2-7 with the loss, adding insult to their already difficult season which had such high hopes prior to Dak Prescott’s season ending injury and the rough start. They will have a bye next week and will hope to turn their season around in week 11 when they travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings.
Pittsburgh will look to continue its winning ways at home against the division rival Cincinnati Bengals next week. Despite looking out of the sync for much of the game this week, the Steelers still managed to put up 24 points, which is something the team hopes to be able to do every week, while also playing the physical defense that they have become so well-known for.